Pilferage of goods from supermarkets is a major cause of economic loss by the supermarket. Since baskets of shopping carts are usually maintained spaced above the wheeled portion of the cart's underframe, the region below the shopping cart's basket naturally lends itself to storage of merchandise therein that could be overlooked by check-out personnel of the supermarket. U.S. Pat. No. 3,829,114 discloses one typical attempt to frustrate use of the region below a shopping cart's basket to prevent pilferage. The structure of that patent is relatively expensive in that it relies upon adding a plurality of inclined struts, as an obstructing means, to a standard underframe of existing carts.
The object of this invention is to reduce the cost of an anti-pilferage cart construction by providing an improved frame construction for a nestable shopping cart that is characterized by its effectiveness in frustrating under-the-basket storage of merchandise and by its economy of manufacture.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved and simplified frame construction for a shopping cart that has both nesting and anti-pilferage character, and wherein the support for the forwardly cantilevered basket of the cart, and the mount for the rear wheels of the cart, are both rigidified by simplified use of only two U-shaped tubular members that are welded together.
Further object and advantages of the invention herein will become evident as this description proceeds.